Magnetic resonance methods are referred to by various abbreviations, for example MRT, MRI, NMR, etc. It is known to use MR methods for imaging in microscope-assisted surgery. For example, they can make it possible to distinguish more easily between healthy and diseased tissue, so that a surgeon can tell, for example, whether he has removed all the tumour tissue. Methods of this kind are therefore particularly suitable in fields such as brain surgery, for example, in which it is important to remove neither too much nor too little tissue.
Medical MR apparatus are very large pieces of equipment that generate strong magnetic fields. These magnetic fields and hence the imaging are disturbed by the iron-containing components that are present in conventional operating microscopes, which is why the MR equipment and operating microscope are often located in different rooms. MR-assisted operations of this kind are, however, very laborious as the patient often has to be transported back and forth during the operation while at the same time the alignment of the patient in the different apparatus has to be altered constantly. Therefore, the apparatus has to be realigned when any change is made.
To solve this problem it is proposed in EP 1 152 275 B1 to use an iron-free operating microscope on an iron-free stand in the same room as the MR apparatus. The drive used is an air motor which does not generate a magnetic field. Consequently, photographic images also can be produced intra-operatively during a break in the procedure without having to move the patient excessively.
One possibility for the advantageous use of CT section images is disclosed in DE 10 2007 009 543 A1. A microscope apparatus is described having a stand supporting a microscope and having at least one detector for determining the spatial position of the microscope. The microscope comprises a reflecting device for reflecting image data obtained pre-operatively, e.g. computer tomography section images, into the microscopic image. For example, a CT diagnosis section image can be reflected on to the particular site of the operation that is shown by the microscope image and thus be superimposed on the microscope image to enable the diagnosis and operation to be better matched to one other. The alignment of images obtained pre- or intra-operatively on the present microscope image, however, is very laborious.
There is a desire for an improved microscope apparatus and methods of microscopy which make it easier, in particular, to superimpose an MR image on the microscope image.